"Thank you. I will not only do so, but as I don't care to stay at the hotel, I will even crave leave to pass the night under your roof."
"If you don't mind our poor accommodations, you will be very welcome."
"I am not likely to complain, Mrs. Larkin. I have not been nursed in the lap of luxury. For two years I was a California miner, and camped out. For that long period I did not know what it was to sleep in a bed. I used to stretch myself in a blanket, and lie down on the ground."
"You won't have to do that here, Mr. Reed," said Luke, smiling. "But it must have been great fun."
"How can you say so, Luke?" expostulated his mother. "It must have been very uncomfortable, and dangerous to the health."
"I wouldn't mind it a bit, mother," said Luke, stoutly.
Roland Reed smiled.
"I am not surprised that you and your mother regard the matter from different points of view," he said. "It is only natural. Women are not adapted to roughing it. Boys like nothing better, and so with young men. But there comes a time—when a man passes forty—when he sets a higher value on the comforts of life. I don't mind confessing that I wouldn't care to repeat my old mining experiences."
"I hope you were repaid for your trouble and privations, sir."
"Yes, I was handsomely repaid. I may soon be as rich as your local magnate, Prince Duncan, but I have had to work harder for it, probably."